weird

A few days ago, early in the morning, I received a weird text message from a stranger. I thought that person must have sent it to the wrong person. So I just forwarded the message back to the sender and said, "Salah send." Then I deleted the message and went back to sleep.


Later, the person called and the conversation went like this:

Weirdo 1 = me

Weirdo 2 = the stranger

Weirdo 1 :

Hello?

Weirdo 2 :

Hello, aisyah! *very confidently*

Weirdo 1 :

... ... ... ... ...

Weirdo 2 :

Did you get my message this morning?

Weirdo 1 :

Message? Urm ... yes.

Weirdo 2 :

I am going out. Can you please keep my laptop first? It is downstairs by the staircase.

Weirdo 1 :

Downstairs? Where?

Weirdo 2 :

Yes, beside the pile of clothes.

Weirdo 1 :

Huh? I don't see it lah ...

Weirdo 2 :

Oh. Wait. Wait.

Background noise of Weirdo 2 talking to Weirdo 3.

Weirdo 2 :

You dialled the wrong number, right?

Weirdo 3 :

I don't know.

Weirdo 2 :

Huh???!!!???!!!

Weirdo 2 :

Hello?

Weirdo 1 :

Wrong number, right?

Weirdo 2 :

Tuut ... Tuut ...

Later in the evening, weirdo 2 sent me a text message:

Kenal ke sape ni?

Weirdo! Mesti lah tak kenal.

LOL. aisyah lah yang weirdo. Tak kenal pun layan. Dah lah, tak kenal sudah.


That person is indeed a WEIRDO! Lesson for that weirdo is, clean up your handphone first if you do not want to end up dialling a wrong number. That was what I learnt.

twelve cents

So lesson for today. What I have learned -- If you do not want to end up sending an SMS to the wrong person, please clean up your handphone first. Yeah. :)

Isy. Buat malu je tau.

Sigh.

Okay. That's all for an update.

Apa? Nak cakap tu je? Such a waste!

What do you expect? I have a paper tomorrow, okay.

Okay, fine. Pergi lah study.

Yeah, I have split personalities. Haha. Okay lah, bye. :)

Oh! By the way. Do you see the relation between my post and the title?

momentum

I like Nike slogan.

When we look at the people who seem to be doing better than us, we often compare ourselves to them -- and we mentally calculate the effort it would take to get from where we are to where they are, and conclude that it is too impossible to ask such effort from ourselves. We forget that they did not get there overnight.


How momentum works.


The principle of momentum works like this :

The momentum increases when either the mass or velocity increases. Or the greater the force, or the faster the movement, in a short amount of time, the greater the momentum is. And, what is momentum? It is the drive, or the propelling force/strength, that allows the object to go as far as it can.


Increasing velocity -- when an object starts moving, it has little momentum because it has yet to pick up the speed. Which means that, as long as you keep moving forward and do not stagnate, you will gain more momentum. Or, the longer you have been keeping at something, the easier it gets.


Increasing mass -- An object without much mass cannot gain much momentum because there is little to be propelled forward in the first place. Which means, as you move forward according to your capacity, you will find the capacity and drive to do even more.


I am terrible in Physics but now I, somehow, realize how this simple principle can be applied into our lives. We often look for the motivation before we act. But I am thinking, what if we look how to increase the momentum instead?


What if ... we decide to give ourselves the first hardest push, and keep going until the ride becomes smoother. What if ... instead of allowing external triggers to determine our state of mind and emotions, we sought emotional momentum and deliberately choose to do something about it, and keep at doing it until it gets easier.


As Eugene Peterson wrote, "It is easier to act ourselves in a new way of feeling, than to feel ourselves in a new way of acting."


On a side note, while google-ing for a picture to illustrate this post, I stumbled across another awesome post about momentum. My favourite line: "Some people say the purpose of productivity is to give yourself more free time to spend relaxing, not working. I disagree. The purpose of productivity is to give yourself more time, whatever you choose to do with it."


What building up momentum (and maintaining it) gives you is the choice. The freedom of choice to do as you wish with your time. For an example, knowing that I will spent my time lazying around during the weekend -- doing nothing at all, I choose to join any event organized. With that I can go for a walk, catch up with some close friends, have lunch with them, etc etc. And that just gives me more motivation to continue working.


Sometimes, being stuck among the classmates all the time brings you nowhere. You need to meet someone else to discuss a topic other than academics -- or assignments, or quizzes, or lab reports. You need to clear your mind from all the whines and complains about the workloads. You need to remove your worries about the back-to-back quizzes. Which is, you have to go out from that kind of environment.


One thing I learnt from a recent event I participated was, if you spend your time doing something else other than study -- in hope to recharge your spirit, you will find it amazing how fast you can go after that. In a way, it gives me momentum, right?


And ... a final tip I want to share from last Thursday's talk: map out your task a day before. Before you finish up your work each day, make it your final task to set up a to-do-list for the next day. Give your mind at least twelve hours to be mentally prepared. Remove the biggest obstacle to be productive, which is, not knowing where to start. This is a momentum for each and every day.


Anyway, what do you think? Should the concept of momentum just be kept in the context of science?

yearinreview:2010

Hi.


I wanted to do a comprehensive summary of my year. I had also wanted to write a post on what I have been doing in the whole last year. But, for some reasons, I just could not find the time or the emotional energy needed for it. If there was one word to sum it all up, that would be CHANGE.


Well, growing up, I used to think that significant milestone in my life would be marked by a dramatic changes and a specific point, to which, I could look back and say, "Okay, that's when this thing happened." Like, I can exactly tell when was the very first time I got my own mobile phone.

The more I journey through life, however, the more I find that I am not necessarily able to notice the exact point at which this thing changed -- at which I changed. Like the season changing from one another, the change is subtle and gradual. And before I know it, I find myself in another season.

Looking back over my life, while I used to enthusiastically rush towards personal milestone such as graduating from high school, having a driving license, going to the college -- the experiences which have shaped me most were not clearly-defined turning points such as those.

Developing my own values, convictions and believes that run deeper than what parents and teachers told me, building character, learning from own opinions, learning to stand for what I believe ... all of the above took place slowly and gradually. There were no fanfare, no congratulations, nothing of the sort.

Unlike formal education institutions, the School of Life does not hand out a certificate saying, "Congratulations! You have completed a Degree in Making the Bed." But these unseen, uncelebrated milestones are just as significant as the visible ones -- or perhaps even more.

"When did that happen?" I asked myself as I look back.

When did making the bed first thing in the morning become my second nature? For years, even into my teenage years, mom nagged me to make the bed every morning. But if you ask me to tell the exact point where I decided to listen to her and make my bed instead of leaving it all messy, I cannot.

I highly doubt it has a specific date though. I probably started to do it, forgot for a couple of days, had to be nagged again, started doing it again, forgot again, and so on ... until the 'remembering' became frequent and the 'forgetting' and 'lazy' became less. And before I knew, not making the bed early in the morning became unnatural for me.

So yeah. I have changed a lot. Not drastically, of course.

This year, if I had any resolutions, it would be the same as it has always been. I want to live life by the day, soaking every moment, taking every experience, and to do the things which freak me out the most. I want to work hard, get straight HDs (if possible lah. haha), then play harder.

In 2011, I do not hope for material gain. Instead, I pray for the strength to hold my tongue in the time of impatience, the sincerity to be happy for other people, the value to be non-judgmental towards others.

By the way, thank you to all of you for being a part of my year. Special thanks to Prongs for always making my day. You know what you did. And you know even if you have not done such things, I will still always love you. :) 

People, please stay with me this year. And next year too. And next next. And next next next. And next next next next. And next next next next next. Ouh, please stay with me forever. Hehe. Is that too much to ask?

Happy 2011 everyone!

p/s 1 : 

2010 left me with a really deep cut and it hurts. literally. not in a poetical way.

p/s 2 :

oh. baru perasan, ni bukan review rupanya. takpe lah.